Farmers held protest outside Oriental Insurance office in Pune for unpaid insurance claims. Farmers are unable to claim insurance money for Kharif season of 2018. They claimed that farmers from Manjalgaon, Parli, Dharur, and many more are far from receiving any compensation.
Farmers Affected due to the Delay in Claims
Many farmers claimed an estimated average of INR 18000 per acre for insurance due to natural causes for claim. It’s been more than a year in delay of unpaid insurance claims for 6 months work of farmers going vain. A farmer from Kawlewadi village, while speaking on the issue claimed that all the farmers in his village paid for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana crop insurance. However, only a few received compensation while most of them haven’t received a penny.
Shiv Sena Chief, Uddhav Thackeray Fueling the Fire
Following the issue, Uddhav Thackeray warned the companies to settle unpaid insurance claims. Following this a gang of Sena’s workers vandalized the office in Pune of IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company on Wednesday. The protesters created chaos by raising slogans. Further, Uddhav Thackeray taking the matter in his own hands, reassured the farmers that he would put pressure on Insurance companies and solve the issue at the earliest.
Loophole in the Scheme that led to the Delay
Experts believe that the haste in issuing policies formed the basis of the problem. Furthermore, the farmers could not easily decipher the policy as they were printed in English rather than an understandable native language. This led to an increase in cases of unpaid insurance claim.
Insurance Official’s Reasoning
The officials released a statement related to the issue, they agreed that Rs 42 crore is yet to be compensated. Additionally, the company blamed the enrollment process for the delay. Moreover, they claim to have addressed over 40,000 complaints from the 80,000 complaints received. Subsequently, State Agriculture Commissioner Suhas Divase promised to review these cases at the earliest.